I don’t have the energy to recap everything that’s happened with Jessica Mulroney this year. I actually went back and read my coverage of Jessica’s racist sh-t against Sasha Exeter, and it made me really mad all over again. The broad strokes: Jessica is a total Karen, she made Exeter’s BLM calls-to-action all about her white woman tears, Jessica threatened Sasha’s livelihood, and then when Sasha called her out, Jessica threatened to sue her, then Jessica cried white woman tears and told Sasha that they both had a responsibility to make things better. Jessica lost all of her jobs and she spent months stewing and making an Enemies List and trying to make feeble comeback attempts, all of which have fallen flat. Basically, Jessica Mulroney has mishandled everything from the start from a PR perspective, and she’s spent months reinforcing the idea in the public’s mind that she’s a clueless, racist, privileged brat who refuses to really own her mistakes and truly apologize for anything.
Anyway, Page Six had some coverage about the Mulroneys and there was some new info, including a new interview they did with the National Post. This is probably the most sympathetic pieces I’ve read about Jessica this year, but even then… well, just read these highlights:
Jessica was left suicidal: Breaking her silence about the situation, Mulroney told The Post: “I still feel a lot of shame. I feel that people believe the worst in me.” Friends revealed that Mulroney, who works with stars including Mindy Kaling, was put on heavy antidepressants. “Jessica has always been very open about dealing with anxiety since she was 12,” said a source close to Mulroney. “But the anxiety turned into severe depression and suicidal thoughts.”
Her mother had to come over to care for her: The source said: “Jess couldn’t talk without crying. She didn’t feel like herself on the meds and she didn’t want to talk to anyone. She could barely respond to a text message.” Her husband, Ben, who quit his job as a TV presenter, told a pal: “I would wake up and Jess wouldn’t be in bed, and my mind would go to the worst.”
The backstory on Jessica’s attack on Sasha Exeter: Jessica told The Post that she had been privately speaking to Exeter for two weeks before the latter posted her video. “Sasha wrote to me directly and said ‘shaking my head,’ and I said ‘Why are you shaking your head?’ ” Mulroney recalled. “She accused me of ignoring what was going on in the world [by posting non-BLM content].” Mulroney said she told Exeter that she was contractually obligated to post for the season finale of “I Do, Redo.” “It’s not like I have never spoken out about racism before, especially when it comes to Meghan,” she added.
Jessica was so upset that her actions & words had consequences: Days later, Exeter posted her video and all hell broke loose. Every company Mulroney worked with dropped her — without launching any investigations, she told The Post. “I had a hard time dealing with the fact that a network like CTV [and] the companies I’ve worked with for many years — and journalists, some of which were my friends — spoke with incredible authority on what they believed had happened without even contacting me. I think that hurt the most.”
Jessica’s superpower: As Mulroney’s life crumbled, her husband’s on-air colleague Elaine Lui accused her of using Markle as her “superpower.” Mulroney disagrees. “CTV would ask me to go on shows and talk about Meghan; I refused,” she told The Post. “I don’t call that a superpower. I call it protecting my friend.” Sources confirm that Mulroney has it put into contracts that she will not talk about Markle.
Whether Meghan is still close to Jessica: A source in Markle’s social crowd told The Post that, before the Exeter incident, friends had grown “concerned” about Mulroney’s affluent image of social media. The source added that Markle and Mulroney’s “friendship is not what it was once, but it’s not because of [Exeter]. They’ve just grown apart. Of course, Meghan has been worried about Jess. She’ll always have love for her.”
Jessica on Meghan: Asked if Markle had been in touch, Mulroney replied: “She constantly Facetimes and checks up on me.”
Jessica is tapering her meds: Now, Mulroney is tapering her meds, friends said, and focusing on charity work. “I know I have a charmed life,” Mulroney said. “I have to learn from all of this — but I am not racist. I just want to try to move on from this.”
Whew. A few things – Jessica is so stupidly coy about what Lainey said about her “superpower” being Meghan. Jessica absolutely used her friendship with Meghan to her own advantage, but of course Jessica had it in her contracts that she wouldn’t dish about Meghan. Jessica didn’t have to dish – she had already spread it around for years that she was Meghan’s stylist and best friend. And Jessica is STILL using Meghan’s name as some kind of deflection shield in this interview! Even when sources are like “Meghan and Jessica are not BFFs anymore,” Jessica is still using Meghan and their friendship.
As for the “suicidal thoughts” and the antidepressants… on that, I feel sorry for Jessica. It must be awful to be in the middle of that kind of huge international story and to feel your career and social circle fall off a cliff. But… it all happened because Jessica was a racist a–hole to a Black influencer. It happened because of Jessica’s words and actions. And she’s still trying to convince us that she’s the victim, not Sasha.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Gah! Her personal style is horrible
Yes.. But the last pic is such an improvement..the hair color and fillers
That plaid outfit is like 70’s flight attendant cosplay
my eyes are struggling to readjust after the blue & red thing she’s wearing with a waistcoat and jacket…
i call it a thing because it cannot be a suit!
Something that surprises me about this is just how BADLY the Mulroneys have handled this. Yes, Jessica was racist and a bully but people have come back from worse. There’s just such a victim mentality around her and such a sense of being totally tone-deaf that it kind of astounds me.
and of COURSE Jessica benefited from Meghan’s friendship. Even if she’s not talking about Meghan, the only reason we’re talking about her is because of Meghan, etc.
I’m with @Becks1 – she could have taken responsibility and apologized. But every time she opens her mouth, she blames Ms Exeter, makes excuses. NEVER, not once has she said: yes- wow- i can’t believe what a jerk i was- the way i acted, i am so embarrassed. I fully apologize and it won’t happen again. And here are the BLM causes i support, and i will follow their lead.
Not once.
It is, always was, and forever will be- all about herself, all the time.
This! I truly hope she gets help and she can absolutely come back from this but a big part of that is being humble enough to learn, apologize and grow. She continues to make herself the victim here which kind of shows she probably doesn’t have the capacity for growth.
@ sunny : Jessica has breathed rarified air from the day she was born into one of Montreal’s old money families. I don’t think humble is in her vocabulary, so I don’t see Jessica being able to take this as a learning experience. I am amazed that she is still name dropping Markle.
Compare this with what Alison Roman tried to do (IDK how successfully, in all honesty) around the same time. I’m honestly kind of floored by how tone deaf and terrible this all sounds. Sure, it’s ok to acknowledge that she went through a rough time when she embarrassed herself through her horrible behavior, but to center that? I don’t know who the “sources” are for this story, but they were not doing her any favors.
I know, we all know what the tried and true solution is to bad press. Apologize and disappear for a few months to a year. Stage a comeback with a new haircut and look, plus an interview detailing how much you’ve changed and grown. Voila, and you now have a new identity.
I agree! If she had a take a route more like Hannah Brown from the Bachelorette (who said the n word), she would’ve been fine. All the white Canadian women who watch her still would’ve continued to have done so.
Also, for all the people who are unfamiliar with Canadian newspapers, it’s not surprising that Jessica went to the Post, they’re one of the more conservative national newspapers. So it makes sense that they’re one of the only people who would still try to blame this on the Black girl.
Also Ben never “quit” as a host, he’s still on a morning show, every day. For years people had been calling for another host to be chosen for his several gigs, but once Meghan got with Harry, the networks decided to keep him on.
When they say Post, they mean NY Post. Not the National Post. Even they wouldn’t take her lol.
When they say Post, they mean NY Post. Not the National Post. Even they wouldn’t take her lol.
Well put, Anna. Ben Mulroney is gross nepotism personified. Such a smug douche on tv.
I’m not a fan of this Karen gal.
She’s a damn mess and I still don’t think Meghan should trust her.
Meghan may like her but I doubt she trusts her
I think someone in a podcast said something I kind of agree with. We all have friends who do some really f*cked up sh*t, or are in the middle of storms that we would never place ourselves in. It’s not our job to police people’s friendships or where they are in that process, because things evolve and stuff happens. Sometimes we try to help and other times, the best thing to do is sit that one out and let them sort it out themselves.
Why does she want to be in the public eye so much? The plain truth is people rarely get privately cancelled. Look at Andrew. So why not try to do good in her private life and move on? She doesn’t need a publicist, she needs help to come to terms with the fact that her life has changed, she has personal issues that need focus and work, and her money and privilege can’t reverse any of it or somehow paint her as a victim.
I really don’t appreciate hearing that a person who had to atone for their own bad behavior is dealing with mental health issues as a result… like depression and suicidal ideation is a way to get people to sympathize with you. Not cool. Even if that was the result of her actions, it reads like a sympathy play and I am really not here for any of that.
Especially since the number of people needing help with these challenges has spiked because of the intensity of 2020. Folks cannot even get the care that they need because they’re without employment or healthcare, can’t see or spend time with friends or family, etc.
Not here for it, either.
To me, this feels like a “stuff can be two things” situation (thank you, Detective Jake Peralta). The article says she’s struggled with her mental health since childhood, so I can absolutely see a situation as huge as this one causing her to spiral. I have immense sympathy for anyone (even shitty, unlikeable people) dealing with extreme depression and suicidal ideation because it’s something I struggle with and it is truly horrendous.
I also think she’s a crappy, spoiled, mean girl and does not seem interested in growing or learning from this situation at all.
Yes. I wasn’t sure about how to say this but being a spoiled mean girl that have to deal with the consequences of her actions and suffering from mental health issues aren’t mutually exclusive. The backlash and losing your job as a result of acting like a spoiled, racist brat can trigger/exacerbate depression, it’s awful it got so deep and I’m glad that there are people around here to help her with that. But my gosh! There’s a “look what you made me do” undertone in their interview that I truly loath. Yes, it’s hard and she needs help to cope, but she also need to acknowledge that the situation that led to the backlash was her doing.
She couldn’t talk without crying and needed her mommy because she was called out for acting like a racist bitch to a black woman??
And that, friends, is the textbook definition of White Woman’s Tears. All she needs to do now is call the police on someone and she will have officially earned her Karen Badge. She could start by calling the police on whoever gave her that godawful suit to wear in the 1st picture. Ghastly.
Puh-lease!!
Girl, shut up.
National Post is a right-wing trash rag – not surprised she went skulking to them. She’s an awful person, always has been.
Yep, I was going to post the same thing about the NP.
She’s her own worst enemy and I very much doubt Meghan is in her life in any meaningful way these days. She’s just gotta STFU and reinvent herself. Become a full-time philanthropist and stop giving maudlin tell-all interviews, she just comes across as self-pitying and desperate.
She looks like a cartoon character and not an actual human person. (A racist a**hole cartoon character with terrible clothes and silicon face)
I feel like Canadians don’t have good coping skills when it comes to racism. They’ve been conditioned from so many years of denying its existence to (relatively) sudden events that have revealed it, such as our Truth and Reconciliation commission. So on the one hand, you get Canadians that are bafflingly clueless/naive about racism. And on the other, you find certain groups wandering around weeping and gnashing their teeth with this huge sense of guilt to the point of absurdity.
When it comes to run-of-the-mill daily racism situations, I think what Canadians lack are examples of really pragmatic approaches to dealing with it (e.g. explicit acknowledgment and public determination of concrete ways to change). Jessica is clearly the total denial type who, when suddenly confronted by her own racism, hasn’t a clue how to proceed. She feels victimized and totally lacks the ability to put her behavior in perspective. A concrete apology and public self-reflection would help. But no. (I don’t count Sasha in the same category of Canadian not so much because she is black but because she spent a lot of time in the US, at Howard I believe, so I think her views on racism are categorically more informed).
Oh, we don’t. Not at all. (I could go into details about how we treated and continue to treat Indigenous people, Quebec and it’s Quebecness, the straight up denial of slavery I’ve seen from people, how Black Canadians are treated, etc. etc. but the short answer is, yes, you’re right. Canadians do not have good coping skills when it comes to racism.
Quebec has its own serious issues with racism that they hide behind protecting French culture. The separatist movement has always been one of white supremacy, with the “pure laine” test and Jacques Parizeau said that part out loud when he said money and the ethnic vote made them lose the referendum. And the current law against wearing religious symbols, except of course for Catholic things, is also very racist. And yet very little is being done to overturn it and CAQ is actually popular because of it.
There is anti French sentiment outside of Quebec, especially out west, but I would not place that on the same level as the racism against non white people.
Reply to Nic919 and Mazzie. I cannot let those comments unanswered. Not a long time ago (50’s,60’s), French Canadians were scolded and ostracised by anglophones Canadians who has had all the privileges, own companies, own money and power. There was cultural genocide against French people. As a minority, the dignity of Quebecers as been soiled. As a minority, we fought hard to regain economical power (which is still not ours totally), dignity and a sense of value and purpose as a minority. We fought hard and still as to as I can see because comments like yours doesn’t seems to raise indignity amongst random celebitchy readers (from around the globe and mainly anglophone I guess). These comments are plain racism against a minority, the Quebecers. When I was 15, 15 years ago, I went to Alberta with my school. My school friends and I undergo racism in publics places, being called names (like “frogs” which is quite pejorative) by anglophones thinking we don’t understand them because we speak french. That was quite the intimidation and racism. We went to Alberta to discover our beautiful country and culture outside ours. That was how we were welcomed. French Canadians suffer racism in their own country on a daily basis. Even main media (anglophone’s ones) indulged in it. I wonder how it is OK to discriminate and being so openly racists towards Quebecers. Well, it is not. As a minority, still being widely discriminate and suffer racism, we are well placed to understand racism and discrimination. We are so welcoming to everyone we just wish people will join us on our minority society project and contribute, with us, to flourish as a society, as a French minority. We want everyone to be treated we dignity and join us on our journey. It is not racism to defend our minority culture and society. It is fighting against racism to do so. Saying that, I’m married to an African born guy and I have mixed race children. I want them to live in dignity being mixed race and speaking French. I want them to be proud of their culture on both sides. I despise racism. Your comments shows you don’t have the ethics to try to see things from another perspective. That’s the trap of your own autopoiesis (you should read Niklas Luhmann).
Black Canadian here- this country loves to ignore its own racism. It is wild to witness.
A perfect example of when disappearing is a good option.
Okay, she said all she needed to say. She just needs to go retreat and do other things now and stop living in this moment endlessly and making everyone around her live it. She’s basically still dragging Sasha but from behind a new shield besides Meghan.
She’s affluent and has options and support most people don’t have when they screw up and/or are going through a bad time. I spent my empathy on people who have nothing in the time of Covid. This woman ain’t my problem, I don’t care how many interviews she gives.
No wonder Meghan didn’t drop her like most of us would have. This one is reminiscent of Meghan’s father. Nothing is ever her fault. She’s misunderstood or people don’t have the full story or she’s got a health problem.
Meghan’s got her hands full extricating herself from all these messy dangerous people. One narcissistic entity at a time. Narcissists do know how to latch onto empathetic people which may help explain why Meghan and Harry seem to have more than their fair share to deal with.
Of course she is the victim.
Style is a very personal thing, but I’ve never really seen what the bug deal is where her styling is concerned.
Every time there is a Jessica Mulroney post I am bewildered on how she can call herself a stylist—or maybe she just has bad taste when it comes to her own clothes. AbFab’s Edina had better sense!
I also think Jessica suffers from the “but I have black friends, so I can’t be a racist” syndrome.
So she’s now blaming Sasha and Lainey for her own racism and lies. Nice. Really shows that she’s learned her lesson in humility when she’s still targeting racialized women.
She needs to go away from social media for many many months and take a hard look at her privileged and racist actions. No one forced her to threaten lawsuits on Sasha for making a general call out to support BLM. Her narcissism is what caused this to happen and she has no remorse. She wants to be the victim when she has been the victimizer.
Yup. Sasha and Lainey took biiiiiiiig risks doing what they did and had a lot more to lose than Mulrooney ever will. Trash ’em all ya want, Jess…you’re just proving their points over and over.
I’m sure things are complicated between Jessica and Meghan. One the one hand, I’m sure Meghan was horrified by Jessica’s behavior. On the other hand, Jessica has been a loyal friend who has kept her mouth shut and never ran to the tabloids to cash in. Then some say that she didn’t have to because she was benefiting from being associated with Meghan in other ways. To which I would say, pre Harry, I have no doubt that Jessica gave Meghan a HUGE leg up on the Canadian social scene with her significant connections when Meghan first started on Suits.
Also, Meghan has grown close to Jessica’s family and that includes her husband and children. I just doubt Meghan is inclined to drop Jessica like a hot potato. I do believe she still cares for her even if she’s disappointed in her at the moment.
A more perfect headline has never been written.
Yes! I’m so used to reading NYT’s ridiculous headlines. This headline is a breath of fresh air and deserves credit.
She could still apologize. She could ask a publicist friend to help her write a sincere statement and own up to her bad behavior. But this tact she’s taking with the depression and woe is me stuff is so offensive and gross. She is making it so much worse for herself.
I totally don’t get it either. She could have apologised, sometimes you say wrong things. Instead she went ballistic. Her looking so plastic doesn’t help – compare natural Meghan (even if she did sth) with overdone overfilled Jessica.
To be honest I don’t believe Meghan is constantly talking to her.
She’s a terrible friend, another one who uses Meghan’s name and brings attention to Meghan not in a good way. Like Meghan, you have bad luck when it comes to friends. Jessica won’t say any more because she simply can’t.
The only thing I do believe is that she was depressed because she lost her status along with her husband.
Suicidal – I obviously don’t know but it’s so over the top and gaining sympathy-move. Antidepressant – ok I get.
Anyone agrees?
Lainey’s article on the JM situation was delightful to read. I find Lainey very insightful and genuine, and I know it probably shook Jessica (and Ben) to the core to see what Lainey wrote. Lainey and Ben are coworkers, but do not run in the same social circles. For more context, the Canadian media personality network is extremely small. Ben likely thought that Lainey wouldn’t “sell him out” (quotes, b/c she didn’t, but I’m sure that’s how he viewed it) – but she was refreshingly honest in her analysis. I think this probably made it even harder for Jessica, and well, I have no sympathy for her hardships. She remains incredibly tone deaf.
Has Jessica ever apologized to Sasha directly and explained why she thought contacting Sasha’s business partners and sponsors was appropriate? Did she ever explain was she thought she was accomplishing? I hear a lot of this was so hard on me, I feel horrible, this is affecting me so much and why is everyone being mean to me. I don’t hear a lot of empathy about how this affected Sasha’s life and business.
Until Jessica realizes that she caused this and deliberately tried to harm Sasha, there can be no redemption.
While your questions are excellent, the answer is that Jessica does not care that she caused this to herself and would rather blame everyone else. No amount of meds will help her with this problem. She needs to accept responsibility for her actions.
And I need a valium just looking at her outfits.
She’s classist, that’s the main problem. Just saying that you know that you lead a privilege life is not enough. On another note, how can it possibly be that I never like anything this woman wears? I mean, not ANYthing. And don’t get me started on her makeup. Yeesh. Finally, Meghan’s playing the long game in this situation.
I hate that she didn’t use her ‘influence’ to have a serious discussion on mental health. I still wouldn’t respect her but at least it would have been something positive.
Not only is she on anti-depressants, but her botox and filler person is on constant stand-by. Those lips – my god.
The National Post is a right leaning conservative RAG. I’m surprised she didn’t go the Toronto Sun which is like the Canada’s version of the NY Post.
God she’s awful. Maybe I’ll go buy some Joe Fresh workout gear I’m never gonna use to support Sasha. How she STILL doesn’t get it is beyond!
lol, I have a feeling The Sun will be calling *her.*
Aw, I feel so bad for her, thinking about her crying in her big mansion with her rich husband.
Sigh… this woman has a lot to learn. This all could have been avoided if she had just put her phone down. I will also add that if you’re a person of color with close white friends/family, they can sometimes still be incredibly clueless or just don’t get it, even after knowing you for years. Sometimes it is just genuinely not having that day to day experience, and sometimes, as it seems to be in Jessica’s case, they have to make themselves the center of everything.
NO.
The three piece red plaid pants suit is truly tragic. Almost as bad as the leprechaun outfit where Jessica is wearing turquoise thigh high boots and a long shirt with no pants.
I first thought that Jessica was being fun and playful about her fashion choices but I have come to believe that she is dead serious about every part of herself and her public persona including what she wears. The kind of serious where she always absolutely has to be right 100% of the time and everybody everywhere has to agree that she is always absolutely right or she will never let it go. Kind of like Trump and the attendance at his inauguration. I’m pretty sure that we haven’t heard the last from him about that.
I think that’s what got Jessica into the situation with Sasha. The inability to admit that she could ever be wrong. The inability to admit that she could be a racist and part of the damn problem. So Jessica just kept beating the horse and escalating and becoming more and more aggressive until her world blew up in her face. She just had to be right. She just had to be the “boss”. I don’t think that Jessica ‘gets it’ even now.
PS- Lainey really is a boss and absolutely courageous.
I’ve read and reread this article multiple times, and each time I come away with the feeling that you did an enormous disservice to the millions of people suffering with mental illnesses. The headline alone is shaming for people who take antidepressants. The comments regarding her illnesses are triggering. You should all be deeply ashamed for participating in the language that continues the stigma of mental illness. Do better.
Nah you’re defending someone who refused to acknowledge her racist actions and is now looking for pity by claiming mental illness. You can be depressed and have anxiety still be a racist asshole. They are not mutually exclusive. And the fact that she still refuses to accept any responsibility here shows her narcissism. I’m sure this is a comment from a PR person on her behalf so if she’s serious about her alleged mental health then she needs to go to CAMH and donate money to help them out. She’s done nothing but post self pitying nonsense and she does an absolute disservice to people who are truly struggling and don’t have her resources.
I have had family members threaten suicide so I take this seriously, but guess what they didn’t hit the media looking for pity. They actually tried to keep it quiet and then they checked into the psych ward because the threat was a truly serious one. So take your bs and disingenuous condemnation of something you have no clue about it and shove it.
There was nothing disingenuous about it. I’ve lived with mental illness my whole life, and I can tel you for a fact that comments like the ones that were written here do real damage. You don’t get to police how someone seeks treatment for their mental illness. Your family members thankfully were able to seek treatment that suited them. Jessica is obviously a deeply flawed human that needs to take responsibility for her words and actions. Maybe that will come to fruition from her own treatment plan.
I’ve read and reread this article multiple times, and each time I come away with the feeling that you did an enormous disservice to the millions of people suffering with mental illnesses. The headline alone is shaming for people who take antidepressants. The comments regarding her illnesses are triggering. You should all be deeply ashamed for participating in the language that continues the stigma of mental illness. Do better.
Anyone else notice the article mentions that she has worked with such stars as Mindy Kaling? Is this an effort by the NP to show she has another friend who is a person of colour, so she just COULDN’T be racist?